“Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s first Russian experience was a complete failure. In 1902 he exhibited an interior of his white drawing room in Moscow, but no one single piece of his furniture was purchased. When in 2014 a group of Mackintosh lovers from the Moscow Kremlin Museums masterminded an exhibition “Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Manifesto of a New Style” we hoped that it would properly introduce the Scottish genius of architecture and design to the Russian audience for the first time, and secure his triumphant return to Moscow. But we never expected that this project would find such an enthusiastic public response and an international recognition. 280000 visitors came to see the exhibition in three months.

The exhibition was organized in collaboration with the Glasgow School of Art, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (Glasgow), the National Trust for Scotland, the Scottish National Gallery of Art (Edinburgh), the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) and the Haidi Takayama Museum (Japan). We share the honour of taking part in today Award ceremony with many colleagues, curators and leading experts on Mackintosh – Peter Trowles, Alison Brown, Roger Billcliffe, Lindsey McGuill, Patrick Elliot.

It won’t be an exaggeration to say that this project proved to be a truly dramatic experience for everyone involved in it. Right after the final lists of the exhibits had been negotiated and all the agreements signed, dreadful news came from Scotland about a devastating fire in the Glasgow School of Art and irreversible damages caused to this masterpiece of architecture and its interiors. The prospects of the exhibition project looked very gloomy at that point. But owing to the professional cooperation and friendly support of our colleagues from the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) and Hida Takayama Museum of Art some adequate substitutions to the lost items had been found and the exhibition was open in time. I would like to express our profound gratitude to the Director of the V&A Museum Martin Roth and his staff, Max Donnelly and Eric Turner, as well as to our Japanese colleagues Tezuya Mukai, Hiroyaki Kimura and Noriko Midzuno.

Arranging this exhibition we wanted to pay a tribute to the outstanding architect, artist and designer. Unfortunately, it also became a reminder of how fragile the works of art could be, even in the present day world. Once Mackintosh had expressed his philosophical reflections on art, asserting: “Art is a flower, life is a green leaf”. Both are vulnerable. But I do hope that with this project we made our humble contribution to the eternal triumph of life and art over death and destruction.

“Youniversal,” the ninth and final GFAA award, recognizes the most popular nominee, and is selected by public voting. All 68 nominees were eligible to win.

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